There is a need for an inexpensive functional barrier fabric to produce protective apparel, coveralls, coats, and the like which offer the wearer a measure of protection from dirty or dusty environments. Protective apparel of this type is designed to be disposable after use and is not laundered. The fabric should be comfortable to the wearer and provide this protection at a minimum cost. One deficiency of many of the low cost protective apparel fabrics currently available, such as flash spun polyethylene (Tyvek, DuPont), is the lack of breathability and comfort. These fabrics are typically worn in uncontrolled, hot environments and problems with worker discomfort and overheating are common. The foam-coated barrier fabrics provided by this invention provide a degree of breathability, protection and comfort not available in competitively priced fabrics.
Other less comfortable fabrics are often times modified with perforations or vents which prove costly and compromise barrier properties.
While not offering protection from extremely hazardous or toxic materials, these fabrics are useful in areas where a moderate level of skin and body protection is acceptable. Spray painting, trash removal, construction, baghouse inspection, sandblasting, and general maintenance/dirty job use--re all areas where a comfortable protective garment is desired.
Foam-coated and foam-backed textile materials are described in the patent literature, primarily relating to domestic textiles and upholstery fabric. As examples, see U.S. Pat. No. 3,625,970, describing a glass fabric having a foam polymer backing for a drapery, U.S. Pat. No. 3,748,217 in which a foam organic polymer bonds a textile fabric to a spunlaced nonwoven fabric, again for drapery face fabrics; also U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,862,921, and 4,362,774 relating to foam-backed drapery fabrics. Various techniques of applying foam to textile substrates are also described in the patent literature, as evidenced by U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,862,291; 4,362,774; and 4,387,118. Other foam polymer applications and procedures are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,527,565 and 3,642,563.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,499,139 describes forming a strata or layer within the single ply fibrous web, as depicted in FIGS. 1 and 2 of this patent in which the froth is worked into the fabric to form interconnecting links to hold the surface fibers in place. The face of the fabric is scraped free of froth so that the outermost fibers on both the top and bottom surfaces are substantially froth-free. The fabric of the present invention has an entirely different structure with a quantity of foam on at least one surface of the fabric as well as the foam penetrating most, if not all, of the nonwoven fabric web.